Pushing the Lines
by Roslyne
Summary: This is Remnant's reckoning, a world soon to be taken by storm. Forces conspire and the people will know fear like they never have before. At the sundering of an age, how much is too much? Alternate Universe. Story will contain immense world building and lore exploration, focuses on the interactions of team RWBY within the universe. Potential shipping and explicit themes ahead.
1. Prologue

This is a tale of love and loss, of camaraderie and betrayal, courage and sacrifice and the death of dreams. It is a story of the lines between our very best and our absolute worst.

It is the story of the end of an era.

This is how ten thousand years comes to a close. Ten thousand years of peace and prosperity, of new discoveries and innovation, a million lifetimes of love and happiness. Corruption is rife in the upper echelons of Vytal. The seed of destruction has already taken root deep within the bowels of Vale. This is not just the end of a nation, the night falls upon civilization itself.

This is the twilight of Remnant.

The end starts now.


	2. Chapter 1

The city of Kirin, just over ten square miles, was the historic core of what is now Vytal proper. In ancient times it encompassed the southern and eastern gates, guarded by a defensive wall built by the Eldarth, around which the modern metropolis had thrown its many arms like a spider extending its web. These days the city, slightly expanded, was the cultural hub of Vale.

It was here that the Remnant Archives housed their most ancient and valuable treasures, on display for the public. The building built to showcase these artefacts was massive, second only in size to the Schnee Dust headquarters, located in far off Brighthome. Reflected in its large, stately windows, she could see the eastern gates, that eons ago had linked the city to the bastion of Forever Fall.

The gray stone and black marble interior of the building was sober, as befitted an institution that counted among its clients a majority of the upper class of Vale. The ecclesiastical vaulted ceiling was so high, it seemed hazed like the sky outside. Blake crossed the softly echoing floor to the exhibition hall, slowly scanning the crowd.

"She said she'd be here," Blake thought.

* * *

Over dinner she talked about the exhibits at the museum, whose history Blake had absorbed completely. The river was peaceful as ever, lights from the monuments dancing on its surface, hiding the murky darkness beneath.

"I have something to ask you," Weiss said.

She looked at her expectantly.

Weiss hesitated, as if unsure how to proceed or whether to go on at all. At length, she took a sip of coffee and said, "This isn't easy for me, though, strangely enough, the fact that we hardly know each other makes it much easier."

"Its often easier to talk to people we don't know." she replied.

She nodded, but her face was pale and the words seemed to have gotten stuck in her throat. "Its a favor, really."

Blake had been waiting for this. "If I can help you, I will. What sort of favour?"

Out on the river a long boat plowed slowly by, its spotlights illuminating great swaths of the river and the buildings on the embankments. They might have been in Misthlan, a city Blake had managed to lose herself many times, if only for a short time.

"I need help," she said in a lost little voice that caused Blake to put her elbows on the table and lean towards Weiss. "The kind of help your friend - what did you say his name was?"

"Adam."

"I've always been good at summing people up fairly quickly. Your friend Adam strikes me as the kind of man I need, am I right?"

"What kind of help is that?" Blake said, wondering what she was getting at and why this normally articulate woman was now having such a hard time finding the words she needed.

"Disposable."

The faunus laughed. Weiss was a woman after her own mind. "What exactly do you need him for?" Blake asked.

"I'd rather tell him personally."

"The man hates your guts, you're better off telling me first."

She looked out at the river for a moment, then turned back to Blake. "All right," She took a deep breath. "My brother's in trouble - serious trouble. I need to find a way -a permanent way- of extricating him."

Was her brother some sort of criminal? "So the police won't find out, I'm guessing."

She gave a dry chuckle. "I wish I could go to the police with this. Unfortunately, I can't."

Blake hunched her shoulders. "What's he gotten into?"

"He's in over his head with a loan shark. I gave him some money to help him out but he just blew through it and when he came up short again, he stole a shipment of dust that was enroute to a very important client. I've mollified the client, but if it ever came out the company would be in serious trouble."

"I'd imagine it gets worse from here."

Weiss nodded woefully. "He went to the wrong people to fence it and got an amount that wasn't nearly enough. Now, unless something drastic is done, the lender will have him killed."

"This lender, he's powerful enough to make that happen?"

"Oh, yes he is."

'All the better." Blake smiled. Helping Weiss would be fun, but ever the consummate chess player, she could already see how she would bring her into checkmate. "I'll take care of it."

"All I want you to do," she said, "is introduce me to Adam."

"I've just told you, you don't need him. I'll do this favour for you."

"No," she said firmly. "I don't want you involved."

Blake spread her hands. "I'm already involved."

Weiss leaned closer, the lamplight fell across her as if they were in an intimate scene in a play. as if she were about to say the things that would make the audience gasp. "I don't want you involved any deeper than you are, and as for Adam, unless I've mistaken him, he likes money more than he hates me."

Blake laughed again, despite herself. She was going to tell the heiress she was forbidden to talk with Adam, but something in her eyes stopped her. She suspected Weiss would get up, walk away, and she'd never speak to her again. Something she very much did not want to happen, because this opportunity - this one crucial chance- to hold something vital over her, would be lost.

* * *

**Author's Note: So that was it, my first ever chapter. Do leave a review if you're so inclined to do so, I'd love to hear what went wrong and what you'd like to see. **

**Special thanks to Pozsich for editing and a great big thank you to everyone who helped along the way, I've got plans in store. Stick around !**


	3. Chapter 2

"Be sure to let me know," Cardin said to Weiss. "Anything and everything you find out about Velvet Scarletina, even the most minute bit of information."

"Including the regularity of her eye blinks?"

He sat watching her, eyes glittering, unmoving. They were seated at the Battlemaster's office in Beacon, school of the most prominent hunters and huntresses in Vytal. The glossy white building rose steeply off the ultramarine-blue surface of a clear mountain lake, towering over the valley below. The airdock next to it was studded with vessels of all sizes from tiny personal airspeeders to massive personnel carriers, often used to transport coffeems to active Grimm hotspots.

Cardin had ordered her an espresso, one of Weiss' favourites.. As he stared into her beautiful face,he continued to be confounded by his conflicting feelings. He was intensely drawn to her, but he also hated her. He hated her erudition, her vast knowledge. Everytime she opened her mouth, she reminded him of how little formal education he had. How often do we despise our teachers, who lord over us with their superior knowledge, who flaunt that experience in our face.

She ran a crescent of lemon rind around the rim of her cup. "What's so special about this Scarletina?"

"Drink your coffee."

She stared down at her cup but didn't touch it.

"Whats the matter?" He said at last.

"Let's skip her, shall we?"

He waited a moment, quietly. "You know the rules," he said with soft menace." You don't question assignments, you take them."

"Not this one," she whispered.

"All of them."

"I like this woman."

"All. Of. Them." he intoned, accentuating each word with a slam of his fist on the desk.

She stared at him, unblinking.

He despised most of all when she got like this, that enigmatic mask that came down over her face, making him feel like a dim-witted child who had failed to learn how to read properly. "Have you forgotten what all of this is for? Do you want all these years of work to go to waste? You're in as deep as any of us."

"I want out," she said in a strangled voice.

He laughed. "God, you're stupid cow. There is no out. You signed on, a contract in blood, metaphorically speaking."

"I want out."

He leaned back, unclenching his fist. His expression relaxed. "Besides, Velvet Scarletina is only a secondary target, for now."

Weiss started to shake, very slightly, and there was a tic under her left eye. She took up her coffee and drained the cup. There was a slight clatter when she set it down.

"Who are you after?"

Close , this time, he thought. Very close. "Someone special," he replied. "A woman named Blake Belladona. And this assignment is a bit different."

"What is it?" Weiss asked, her voice rising."

Cardin's smile held real malice. He turned his head and ordered them two more cups of coffee.

* * *

Dawn was spreading its wings over Vale as Weiss' brief flare of memory subsided into darkness. She replayed the scene in her mind as the first rays of light peered through the windows of her room, poking through the blinds. The alabaster haired woman felt tendrils of fear coiling around her chest, tightening, constricting, as she recalled that fateful night. The room starting

spinning around her, black spots appearing in her vision.

It was hard to breathe.

She stumbled over to the window, and drew it open, letting the cool morning breeze stream into the room. Weiss stood there for some time, waiting for the cold chains of fear to unravel from around her heart.


End file.
